South Yorkshire slimming clinics closed down by Government health watchdog

Two slimming clinics in South Yorkshire have been closed down by a Government health watchdog.

Medical Slimming Clinics Ltd, with locations in Rotherham and Doncaster, have had their registration to operate withdrawn following inspections by the Care Quality Commission in 2016 and 2017.

Inspectors said the provider was found to be breaching regulations relating to 'safe care and treatment, good governance and fit and proper persons'.

At the Doncaster clinic, inspectors found that patients were treated with 'unlicensed medicines'.

Although guidelines say it is allowed to treat patients with unlicensed medicines, there is a higher risk than treating patients with licensed medicines, 'because unlicensed medicines may not have been assessed for safety, quality and efficacy', inspectors said.

CQC officials also noted the clinics did not always safely prescribe medicines safely and there was 'inadequate' sharing of information with GPs and poor leadership.

Inspections of the Doncaster and Rotherham clinics in December 2016 and January 2017 respectively led to CQC beginning a legal process to cancel the registration of Medical Slimming Clinics Ltd. in May 2017 a formal Notice of Decision to cancel their registration was issued.

The company decided to appeal the decision at a tribunal, but earlier this month, they withdrew their appeal and the clinics have closed.

Sarah Billington, CQC head of medicines optimisation said: “It was clear from our inspections that both locations were operating outside of safe guidelines.

“Inspectors saw examples of medical histories not being fully completed and in one case medicines had been prescribed when they were contra-indicated. Additionally, decisions relating to treatment had not been clearly recorded in the patient’s notes. This represents very poor practice.

“It is only right that where CQC sees poor practice, it takes decisive action to stop it. Users of this service were at risk due to inadequate prescribing and poor record keeping, CQC had no confidence that they could operate safely and comply with regulations.

“People have the right to know the quality of care they are receiving – in this case a service that was providing ineffective services at two locations. Medical Slimming Clinics were not providing safe services and CQC acted to remove their registration.”